The All-Star Chaff Battle Box
Kitchen table gameplay with cards that spark joy
- Players start the game with four cards in hand
- Mulligans are not allowed
- Players draw from one shared library
- Graveyards are separate
- Each player has ten lands in their command zone. They may play one per turn.
- 5 Basic Lands - one of each
- 5 Guildgates - either:
- five of each allied guild
- five of each enemy guild
- Optional Rule: The player on the draw gets a treasure token.
- I personally play this rule (I don't know whether play or draw is correct)
Design Philosiphy
- A classic curve topper in each color turns the game on its head when it enters the battlefield
- A low costed creature curve and abundant cheap removal (~30%) allows for interactive back-and-forth games
- Most cards will affect the board state
- Cards that ignore the board generate a resource advantage
- Most creatures don't have toughness higher than their power
- Encourages creature combat
- Trading simplifies the board and prevents board stalls
- Cards are fun and intuitive
- Easy to parse (Charging Monstrosaur)
- Iconic (Lightning Bolt)
- Cool factor can override complexity (Kargan Intimidator)
- Fan favorite smoothing mechanics allow for efficient mana usage throughout the game
- Adventure(Tempest Hart)
- Cycling (Miscalculation)
- Flashback (Think Twice)
- Kicker (Phyrexian Scuta)
- Madness (Basking Rootwalla)
- Reconfigure (Lizard Blades)
- Unearth (Combat Courier)
- Two for ones are uncommon, but incredibly powerful
- Divination can turn the tide of a game
- Many cards provide an effect worth half a card
- +1/+1 counters (Pridemalkin)
- 1/1 soldier tokens (Resolute Reinforcements)
- 1 damage (Skeleton Archer)
- A rummage or loot (Scrapwork Mutt)
- Bouncing a creature (Man-O'-War)
- Recently, I've added more two for ones as a catch-up mechanic
- This makes gameplay slightly swingier
- I avoid cards that snowball card advantage
- Flametongue Kavu is likely too strong, but I'm ok with that
- My local playgroup has a bunch of value enjoyers
- Colossal Dreadmaw is the king of the box
- No creature is allowed to profitably trade with the Dreadmaw
- It costs at least 3 mana to kill the Dreadmaw (except for Doom Blade and Terminate)
RAT YOU
Slaadi posted to The All-Star Chaff Battle Box -
Mainboard Changelist+9, -9
I'm not including as many critters from Bloomburrow as I initially thought. I'm a big fan of the simple designs present throughout the set.
Critters
Shrike Force has four words of rules text, and they're all straight to the point. A +1/+1 counter basically makes this thing as Serra Angel.
Bellowing Crier is a cute lil' frog that will help me cast my rootwallas for 0.
Ravenous Rats - This is an all-time classic and an honorary Bloomburrow critter.
Bark-Knuckle Boxer's expend ability rewards players for doing things that they already want to do. Instant speed interaction can make this card pretty tricky too.
Not Critters
Snapcaster Mage is here to power creep Flametongue Kavu as the strongest card in the box. My players and I just really want to bolt, snap, bolt more often. Slickshot Lockpicker is a suitable budget alternative.
Silent Departure - Another Innistrad classic. Bounce you opponent's creatures for tempo, and recur your Snapcaster Mage :)
Molten Gatekeeper is a card that I had trouble finding room for when MH3 released. It has performed very nicely so far as constant pressure and graveyard value. I cut Roil Eruption because people kept mistaking it for an instant.
Stromkirk Occultist returns as one of the few playable cards printed with madness in magic's 30 years. This card does snowball, but it requires some work to pop off.
Heart Warden - I'm not sure how I feel about two-mana dorks overall in this environment. There's lots of small removal, so it's difficult to see how impactful the acceleration is overall. Board presence is pretty valuable in the early game, and the dorks don't really add stats to the board. "Cycling" in the late game is a nice upside.